State Dept. Nominee Vows to 'Robustly' Sanction Corruption, Human Rights Violations

President Joe Biden’s nominee to be the State Department’s assistant secretary for Western hemisphere affairs vowed to aggressively sanction human rights violators and said more can be done to stop sanctions evasion tactics. The nominee, Brian Nichols, also told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee May 19 that the agency should coordinate closely with the Treasury Department and voiced support for some of the agency’s Cuba restrictions.

If confirmed, Nichols said, he will push for strong sanctions against human rights violations throughout Central and South America. He also said he will be open to more sanctions against the El Salvador government for corruption. “I believe that we should robustly use our Treasury [Office of Foreign Assets Control] sanctions, our [State Department] sanctions, the full range of tools available to deal with those who would steal from the public purse and deprive the people of the region of their resources and their wealth,” he said. “I look forward to deploying those tools robustly in support of democracy around the region.”

But the U.S. needs to be especially “cautious” as it continues to sanction Venezuela and the Nicolas Maduro regime, which has found ways to evade U.S. restrictions. “The broad efforts by China, Russia, Iran, Turkey and others to work around the sanctions regime that exists is deeply worrisome,” said Nichols, a career foreign service officer. “I think that those of us who wish to see democracy in Venezuela need to aggressively challenge those actions and work to ensure that the profits of their criminal activities are not returned to the regime.” He said the Biden administration is still reviewing its Venezuela policy.

The U.S. should also not allow human rights abusers in Cuba to benefit from remittances sent from U.S. people to Cuban citizens, Nichols said. OFAC in October announced new restrictions on remittance-related transactions involving entities on the Cuba Restricted List to limit those activities (see 2010230024). “I do believe that those who are most responsible for abuses of human rights and democracy in Cuba should not benefit from remittances going to the Cuban people,” he said. “Our priority needs to be what is best for the Cuban people.”

Nichols also suggested he would support legislation reintroduced in April by Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., that would authorize sanctions against foreign companies and people involved in projects that harm the environment. “If you are dealing with a company that is illegally dumping mining tailings in a river, suborning local officials and improperly taking resources out of a nation,” Nichols said, “that seems like an example where you could leverage the full range of anti-corruption tools.”

In other action, Michele Sison, Biden’s nominee to be the State Department’s assistant secretary for international organization affairs, praised a provision in the Senate’s Strategic Competition Act of 2021 (see 2104210038) that would create a new role to combat Chinese leadership at international bodies. The bill would create a special representative for advancing U.S. leadership at the United Nations, which has seen China take charge of international standards setting bodies. “Thank you for this bipartisan focus on this need for the U.S. to engage vigorously on strategic competition,” Sison said. “If confirmed, this is at the top of my agenda.”